“Spider Baby the Musical,” “GAM3RS: The Play,” “I Wish My Life Was an RPG” Gam3rCon Theatre

Tickets: “Spider Baby” admission is $10 for Gam3rCon attendees, $20 for general public, which includes a day pass to Gam3rCon. “GAM3RS” and “RPG” admission is free for Gam3rCon attendees. (One-day pass to Gam3rCon is $10; weeklong pass is $30.)

That’s been changing lately, though, even if only on the far fringes of the actual event. And for that, you can thank Gam3rCon, a mini-festival that began with live theater at its center and now has expanded its stage lineup.

Gam3rCon is the brainchild of Brian Bielawski, the formerly San Diego-based actor-writer (and graduate of the Old Globe/University of San Diego MFA program) who created the solo show “GAM3RS: The Play” with Walter G. Meyer.

In 2010, Bielawski launched Gam3rCon partly as a way to showcase that piece (with its natural connections to Comic-Con), as well as to provide a place for the Con crowd to relax, meet and play outside the packed epicenter of the main event. Gam3rCon now offers four floors of gaming-related events and activities.

Last year, a live production of the popular Web series “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” was added to Gam3rCon and proved to be a serious success, with that and “GAM3RS” bringing in upward of 1,700 people to the intimate 10th Avenue Theatre. (That’s also the home of Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company, where Bielawski appeared in the war satire “How I Got That Story” earlier this year.)

Bielawski says the buzz around the 2011 event led to a flood of submissions from alternative theater artists hoping to see their plays go up at Gam3rCon.

“We found there was way more than you’d ever believe,” Bielawski says. “(Plays related to) ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Star Wars,’ zombies, vampires — all that geek pop culture out there. (And there’s) a nice audience of people who aren’t, in general, theatergoers.”

Bielawski and Andy Lowe, whose Chinese Pirate Productions staged “Dr. Horrible,” have taken to calling the event the “Geek Fringe Festival.” And this year they’re featuring three plays: “GAM3RS” (with Bielawski and Lowe alternating as performers), the dark horror spoof “Spider Baby the Musical” and the game-centric solo show “I Wish My Life Was an RPG.”

True, those may not have the mass appeal of a Broadway musical. But “I think it’s a great opportunity to bring in works that wouldn’t otherwise come to San Diego,” Bielawski says.